#and I’m also trying to do more reading

[avastyetwats]

Hey all, I’m really sorry for the lack of replies this week. I’m usually exhausted in the evenings after work to reply and yesterday I was out all day afterwards. I’m off today and tomorrow so I’m going to try and get some writing done. This week is also going to be busy. Especially at work due to the holiday and I have family coming Tuesday, then I’m going out Friday. So I apologize if my activity dips again. I hope it isn’t making anyone lose interest in writing with me or anything! My DMs are always open to chat/plot. I want to do so with some of you but I don’t want to be a bother!

#resting at the inn (ooc) #it’s just really hard to reply during most weekdays due to my work schedule #and I’m also trying to do more reading #so I apologize

[ash-and-starlight]

modern au and esen’s honkers are haunting the instagram feed

#id in alt text #yea this was inspired by That watermelon smashing vid #if u don’t know what i’m talking about you’re living a more peaceful life than i am #at first I was like hm maybe this is a bit too ooc for ouyang #then I remembered the 'doEs GeNerAL Xu pLAY thE FLuTE???' and I was like nah ok it checks out #no filter & accidentally revealing how much of a gayass he is is how he rolls #also rip Ma she's just trying to hang out with her boygf and that hideous Pest that Wretched Thang that useless twink #just manifests wherever zhu is and ruins the mood #she deserves to hatecrime him as much as possible #also I don't think esen is 100% aware he's posting blatant thirst traps. his insta is mostly pics of his horses and his beautiful eagle #then one vid of him doing mounted archery that breaks the internet for 3 weeks #rinse and repeat #also yeah wang's special skill is starting shit in the comments section #he would absolutely thrive in the toxic waste that is social media fights #ty for reading this far. more unhinged takes at 5 #esen-temur #zhu yuanzhang #ma xiuying #general ouyang #the radiant emperor #she who became the sun #he who drowned the world #my art

[godofstupidsentences]

You’re crying. It’s one am and you’re crying because of a fanfiction

#im literally trying not to sob bc everybody is asleep #but jesus fucking christ #I’m reading a #thiam #and it’s incomplete and there are only two chapters (still 100.000+ words) and tbh it’s more theo-centric then thiam #but goddamn #i really need to make a list of recommendations bc thiam’s writers are WILD #now how do you survive while you wait for a ff to be updated? #the real question #ao3 #fanfiction #fanfic #teen wolf #theo raeken #liam dunbar #but also can be applied to: #byler #literati #simuel #destiel #percabeth #anderperry #scorbus #these ships all have wonderful but painful fics

[camgoloud]

i’m pretty sure this was done on the tlt subreddit once before but i haven’t seen it here and i’m curious to know tumblr’s opinions on the topic! personally i like the second two much more than the first—gtn didn’t really grab me that much and i wouldn’t have even called myself part of the fandom until i decided i might as well give htn a go and immediately got sucked in—but i’m guessing that most people’s experience is different, since the first book seems like the most popular based on the impressions i’ve gotten. also feel free to put in tags where you’d rank the short stories (as yet unsent and doctor sex) relative to the books! i would have stuck those in the poll too but there are. 120 different ways to order 5 unique objects

#personally it’s always going to be ayu >/= htn > ntn > dr sex > gtn for me #i do think that gtn might have had a chance against ntn if i had read gtn in the same mindset that i read nona (i.e. already completely 100% #obsessed with the world and characters) but there’s no way either of them could possibly hope to compete with the EXPERIENCE that is htn #and ayu is absolutely perfect for what what it is (character study of judith subtle worldbuilding exercise etc.) #like that short story more than anything else to me is where it’s clear that muir has written fanfic before because in the best possible way #ayu feels like one of those extremely high-quality 10-15k oneshot fics that you read and find your entire life permanently changed by #also the night that story leaked on this website was my destiel night so i will always have a fondness for it tied to that experience #the locked tomb #polls #if this HAS been done on here then i’m sorry and i’m not trying to steal anyone’s thunder! i just really want to know

[tj-crochets]

An experiment with painting on paper instead of fabric!

Idk why I keep painting sunset-ish scenes, but I’m having fun lol

#painting #I might’ve added too more than the optimal number of clouds #but considering I did not paint from a reference picture and also don’t know what I’m doing #I think I’m doing pretty well! next time I think I might try to paint a quilt? #idk if I’ll enjoy that though I think my favorite part of painting might be the colors #not so much the precision work #side note if anyone is reading this tags who can paint and/or draw a stack of quilts in color #and is taking commissions please let me know #I’d love to have art of a stack of my quilts

[mikepenos]

ren fair stuff

#i might do more shit posts for this cause i’m just such a fan of dressing them up #thinly veiled self insert terezi oops (autistic butches let’s goooo) #vrisrezi #my stuff #vriska serket #terezi pyrope #homestuck #i am the biggest vrisrezi fan i can’t even begin to explain to you all #also this is so very inspired by my fiancée and i (crowd goes oooo?) and i smirk and i say yeah sorry ladies the j man is to be wed #also i can’t stand the sight of women that aren’t my girlfriend #are you still reading the tags? this is awkward… hope you’ve had a good day… if u wanna request anything send me an anon or something #trying to build my social standing as a lesbian only homestuck artist lmfao

[perhaps-mr-collins-has-a-cousin]

Hello praying people, I'm not doing well and would really appreciate your prayers right now <3

#long very boring and unnecessarily detailed tag monologue incoming‚ feel free to skip: #this is going to sound like a silly thing to be hitting rock bottom over #but i’m fairly certain i have a semi-rare skin condition known as sensitive skin syndrome #which is basically where skin gets progressively more sensitive #until it won’t tolerate the topical application of anything at all without getting irritated #usually it happens to people on the skin of their face and i have it there but i also specifically have it on my lips #(which apparently is extremely not normal; i found a dermatologist’s case study from like 2019 of one woman who had it on her lips #and according to this case study there were no other cases of people having it on their lips #in all the dermatological literature he had read) #i can’t follow the protocol which all the journal articles i’ve been able to find say is helpful for the rest of the face which is basicall #leave the area the heck alone for at least a year #because if i don’t apply anything to my lips for more than two or three days they will get so dry they crack and bleed #so it’s looking like one way or another i may be having to deal with dry burning irritated lips for the rest of my life #and i’m not dealing with the thought of that very well #i’ve already suffered so much anguish from extreme sensitivity on the rest of my face #and not being able to take proper care of the skin there #and this is just too much for me #i know God is allowing this for a reason but it’s filling me with so much frustration and panic and despair that i don’t know how to go on #but i must and i will #this isn’t a serious or a life-threatening condition but it’s looking like a pretty hopeless one and it’s hurting me badly #and i would appreciate prayers that it would just be healed or that i would know what to do #i think i will try going to my dermatologist but somehow i doubt she's even heard of sensitive skin syndrome #on a COMPLETELY unrelated note i'm just about to get my period and also for two days i've ''eaten'' nothing but vegetable smoothies #and those in pretty small amounts because they're disgusting #(do a detox my hormonal health doctor said) #(it'll be fun she said) #ok if you read this far you're so brave braver than any u.s. marine etc. #thanks for reading ily <3

[softestepilogue]

y’all keep saying how y’all hope ed becomes redeemable and like who tf cares he did anything wrong lmao. pushing Lucius overboard? hilarious. stranding the crew? hysterical. chopping off iffy’s toes? comedic af. y’all always so worried about a character being redeemable or morally right and it’s exhausting. that’s why modern books are what they are now. boring and lame af. ed is morally gray. he’s always been morally gray. he don’t like killin but he likes maimin and he has anger issues. and he’s hilarious when he does all of it.

#ed teach #ofmd #our flag means death #for the love of god just have fun #y’all always worried about a character being redeemable so y’all can morally like them #it’s so weird cause they’re fictional #my fave characters are the ones who morally gray #idc what anyone says they are 100% more interesting when written well #if you like ed just like him lol #you don’t need to jump through hoops to like him just do it #idk how y’all managed to turn a comedy show into something so serious but y’all did it #this is tumblr tho so idk why i’m so surprised #this is why modern books are unbearable to read #cause millennials started publishing and are too pc to write interesting characters #also stede is literally trying to be morally gray #tumblr once again just sucking the fun out of everything #y’all are like that one friend who shows up while y’all are having fun and they correct someone to be pc and just always ruins the vibe #also PS i mean morally gray characters that are well written and not the morally gray characters that are white men y’all want to fuck #there is a HUGE difference #op

[itspileofgoodthings]

I was teaching Ophelia’s death scene this week and one of my classes spontaneously giggled when she died (because they are 16 years old and emotionally immature) and I said, in a shocked voice, “it is NOT funny” and they all insisted that it was and so I let it go but then the next day I showed them some Ophelia art, made them think about how sinister it was that her death happens offstage but is still described in such detail for the viewer, which tells us she was WATCHED but not HELPED as she died, and then played a clip from Branagh’s Hamlet of Kate Winslet singing a mourning song for her father and when I tell you how satisfying it was to hear a total and complete hush fall over the room

#teaching tag #Obviously I cannot control their emotions and I don’t try to. but I love to lay all the right groundwork for them to be moved #even if they don’t understand or forget it a second later #I can do that!!! let them have their moment of silly little reaction and then clear it away and make them look at the moment again #giving them all the context and support they need and don’t have on their own #and I have no idea if it works on a personal or individual level because it depends on what they let into their little hearts #but as a class i KNOW that it works. because of that signature hush #the same thing happened when I read the proposal scene from David Copperfield out loud #it’s happened with the end of the inferno. P&P Pemberley scene. teaching twelfth night #it’s my favorite thing to do in the entire world #to just sweep everything away and then re-build how to look at a scene #and the thing I LOVE about teaching high schoolers is that there’s the immaturity and the boredom etc. etc. #But underneath that there is a great stupidity ready to be taught #that is so much better than pretentious college age kids or hardened adults who already ‘know’ what it’s about #they have that grain of stupidity (more than a grain lol) that o’Connor talks about #that is the secret to letting things in #and I’m so passionate about showing them and I’m just getting better at clearing the ground and knowing what tools to show them when #and also —-this is A new thing I’m learning —-how to hold back my own emotions or reactions so as not to cloud it #whenever I start talking very matter-of-factly and very quickly and almost dispassionately about the structure of a moment #that’s so much better than me having the emotion because it gives THEM room to have the emotion #and that’s simply how they’re hooked #ANYWAY. as I said lots of thoughts thanks for listening wldkdkejejjejejejehe

[fluffypotatey]

Shadowpeach's reaction to believing the other is dating again

ANON I AM SO SORRY T^T i meant to reply to this the moment I read it then got distracted and now it’s almost 1am (edit: it is now 1:30 lmao)

anyway,

you have come to ask me, a girlie who is a sucker for unhealthy shadowpeach and long time lover of the jealousy & possessive tropes, about shadowpeach’s hypothetical reactions of the two monkeys believing the other is back in the dating scene?

well, obviously, they would be completely fine. absolutely no negative reactions or breakdowns or obsessive thoughts hindering their ability to function and be mentally healthy. of course.

jk i lied: THEY WOULD BE SO HORRIBLE LMAO

however, i feel like swk would be more subtle about it. like maybe he hears something out of context said by MK or Mei or Tang or Red Son or Sandy (who might have also jumped to the same conclusion) and is like “oh……” and then is oddly quiet for maybe a month, freaking out MK

also, SWK would have his own internal battle of wanting to see Macky to confirm but also not wanting to see Macackle because the confirmation would break him. but he would make so many excuses to see Macaroon by visiting Pigsy’s noodle shop then chicken out when the time does come (the funny part of me says that Pigsy is the only one aware of SWK’s true intentions and is very annoyed about it)

the anger doesn’t really come until SWK feels fed up with Macaroni’s “mixed signals,” meaning Macky’s very bad attempts at being civil/flirting. because “if Macky thinks he can just use my feelings while being in a relationship he can think again!” (despite Macky never being in a relationship but Wukong never confirmed this so is mad for the sake of this hypothetical SO and himself while struggling with his own very messy feelings. because he likes it when Mac has his attention on him, he likes it when Mac tries to woo him the same way he had tried when they were younger and ignorant, he likes it when Mac cannot help but look at Wukong, he likes it when he makes Mac forget all about that stupid significant other because Wukong and Mac used to be something and could still be that something if Mac just gave Wukong a chance or if they had never ended their old relationship like the way they did. if only, if only, if only, if only, if only—

with Macky, ahahahaaaaaaa hoo boy.

not subtle. very unsubtle. like, yes, even Wukong can see and notice Macky’s very unsubtle and unstable self but unlike everybody else who is aware of the reason, Wukong would just be confused on why Macky is always weirdly snappy and grabby and always feel the need to mention Wukong’s love life????

anyway, Macky would not react well. 1) because it feeds into his angry theory that Wukong found their relationship to be superficial and temporary 2) he has been revived for, uh, *checks watch* not very long, so imagine going through a severe break up and dying them being resurrected and trying to enact revenge on your ex (of whom the feelings are still too raw) but you’ve been out of time for so long that you cannot process shit 3) it is my belief that Macky had nobody else as close to him as Wukong was

so, Macky hearing through the very botched grapevine that Wukong is back in the dating scene? man’s is not handling it well. house/apartment/whatever establishment he was staying in is trashed. he replans his revenge against Wukong. he stalks Wukong obsessively bc he has to see that bastard in the act because maybe then he’ll be free. he would sabotage any and all attempts of demons, humans, whoever that whispers about pursuing Wukong because….reasons

(obviously the reasons are not the fact that Wukong moving on terrifies him, the fact that he can be so easily replaced hurts, the fact that he cannot let go despite everything, the fact that Wukong still smiles the same, that Wukong still laughs the same but it’s so much lighter, that he understood what it was like to be loved and cared about by Wukong. to have all of his attention on Macky, to hold him so gently even though these same hands could break him (and have), to be treasured and desired by someone so powerful. how could Mackarell give up something so precious? he is still selfish and has been deprived for f that love for too long. why on earth would he ever wish for someone else to have a piece of what he once had?)

so yeah i’d say they would be coping sO well :)

#this is a side tangent but shadowpeach deserves some more fics with both or either of the two idiots being jealous #please #for me #ley them simmer or wallow in their personally inflicted angst/pining soup while i giggle and read with delight #and when i say i’m a lover of this trope i also mean i’m a connoisseur of this trope #i have tastes and am picky about it #bc there are some…….not great works that try this trope (to put it politely) and it hurts bc i KNOW it could be written sO good #also funny note: this reply was supposed to end after I shout ‘they would be so horrible lmao’ #but then I thought nah lemme share my elaborated thoughts #another side note: I am sure y’all notice I call Wukong and macky’s thing a relationship instead of friendship or situationship mostly bc #a relationship can mean many things and my view of shadowpeach is both romantic and qpr #like the vibes fit for both of them and I’ll just roll with either #but i struggle to call their thing a friendship because to me that takes away some of the aspects of swk and macky #do i think they even dated in the past? no but i DO think the two were so attached to the hip that to outsiders they saw 2 boyfriends even #if nothing was technically official of their relationship being romantic or platonic but it blurred the lines so well nobody could be 100% #& even in the current plot their relationship is STILL blurred to me so i can’t pick and like both options (both are severely unhealthy ofc #lmk #shadowpeach #asks #anonymous

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

There’s always been something that bothered me about whenever I try to explain the concept of Hatoful Boyfriend and most people’s immediate reaction is “oh! Like Doki Doki!”. My response is always just “…I guess?” because I could never quite explain why that felt wrong to me but I think I finally can put a finger on it now.

(To be clear, I’ve played and enjoyed both games. They’re both fun - this isn’t a criticism at all! I just think they’re, at their cores, two very different things. Also I don’t spoil anything for either game here beyond the obvious; that is, that these games are not what they seem to be at first glance, which I’m pretty sure most people know going in. If that amount of spoiler still bothers you, then stop reading here and play the games first!!!)

When people compare the two games, I 100% understand where they’re coming from. It’s the same gimmick I suppose: cutesy looking or joke visual novel actually turns out to be a smokescreen to hide the horrors within. But. Like. I feel like that’s where the similarities end.

See, DDLC’s whole point is to be shocking. It’s intended to make you jump and disturb you. It’s primarily a horror game with you, the player, as its focal point, and as a result the characters are only really there to be used by the story. The majority of the characters, with the exception of one, are pretty straightforward and lean heavily on the tropes commonly used in dating sims so the game can later distort them in increasingly horrific ways - with the intent of shocking and scaring you. The characters are more tools to be used to tell the story and create the experience than fully fleshed out people, which I think works out well thematically for DDLC. It’s effective in the sense where the characters aren’t really what draws you in, but rather the premise and the anticipation of getting a good scare out of it, with some existential stuff mixed in there for a pretty cool experience. You came to get scared right? Well that’s what you got.

But Hatoful is very different because its intent is not to shock or scare you necessarily. Hatoful, since its initial development, has been designed to make you care. Hato Moa made the game intending for people to start it because of its ridiculous concept, but then to discover it’s depth along the way. Hatoful doesn’t want to jump scare you. It wants to tell you a story. It delves into horror, that’s true, but the horror is much more psychological and it stems from the character’s actions. It’s a character driven story at its core, and it does this by taking itself seriously. It knows it’s completely absurd and leans into the absurdity, but the character interactions are real, so that when actual plot begins to happen, you’ll wonder when you started getting so attached. The characters twist typical dating sim tropes again, but this time to ask “hey why is this character like this? maybe it’s not so straightforward as you think”. And then the game goes a step further and reveals that there is an actual in-universe reason for its insane setup of “a human girl goes to bird school which is for birds and dates pigeons”. Hatoful is less tongue in cheek and more completely unabashed about it’s ridiculous premise and plays it straight - which in turn makes its serious moments shockingly genuine. That, to me, is why it works. The point is to delve into the characters. The plot is driven by the characters. It’s horrifying at times because the characters will sometimes make or be forced to make horrific choices. It’s not a gimmick. It’s a cohesive story. It’s just asking you to dig into it a little further to get there.

Tldr; DDLC is a cutesy facade and Hatoful is unabashedly absurd. DDLC wants to scare you and Hatoful wants you to care. DDLC uses its characters as tools for the experience while Hatoful’s whole point is the characters.

Editing based off a reblog that made me aware I was not completely fair with DDLC here (again, still trying not to spoil too much): The experience in DDLC is heavily based on its thematic content. When I say “the characters serve the experience” and “it wants to scare you” I don’t mean this shallowly, and I think it can and has been frequently misinterpreted in this way. In DDLC, the horror comes from the situation. In that sense, it’s thematically appropriate that the characters are tools in that way - that’s actually part of it and you are meant to feel bad for them - their situations, issues, and personalities are thematically relevant and sympathetic. I shouldn’t have juxtaposed “to scare you” and “to make you care”; that was far too simplistic a summary to the point where it is inaccurate. They both want you to care - a story only has power if you care about it. But I do still feel strongly that DDLC’s draw is the terrifying situation it impresses on the player, and the self-aware questions it asks (in which characters are put through the existential oppressive wringer to emphasize these themes), while Hatoful primarily relies on you slowly but surely acclimating to the absurdity so it can tell what is simultaneously an off the walls story that is also genuine and believable for the characters you’ve grown to know.

#if you’ve compared them I’m not mad I promise! I totally get why they’re grouped together when you haven’t played them #I just needed to verbalize this for some reason. probably no one will read this lol but oh well I wrote it for me #whether you think these games were successful in what they set out to do will vary according to personal taste #but the point is that they set out to do very different things here #hatoful boyfriend #not tagging as ddlc because this is more about hatoful tbh and about the struggles I have trying to recommend it 😞 #also hi everyone. it’s been awhile. I promise I have bsd stuff too it’s just been really hectic lately #storyrambles

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

Why are people who look at comic books from a “critical real-world lens” so obsessed with identifying the one person who is “100% right”. That doesn’t even exist in the real world.

Lost Days wasn’t made to protest global issues. It is a comic book exploring fictional character Jason’s mental journey after being resurrected and regaining consciousness against his will and/or power. Now how dare this character, in his own story where he has his own personal objective, not go out of his way to make sure each individual child from the collective hundreds he saved from traffickers and the likes gets adopted into nice homes. Obviously we have to disregard any good he did or that he cares at all because all he did was kill the fucker at the top who was responsible. Winick also never fleshed out all 42 of the trafficked children into nuanced characters with their own thoughts and feelings which was apparently neglectful lol.

In regards to utrh, Idk what this person read but there were more drug dealers Jason didn’t kill than those he did. Not once did he ever say he wanted to eliminate the flow of drugs in the community. He took over the trade. Not to mention he explicitly stated control vs elimination is where his goals differed from Bruce’s pipe dream hence why he’s successful and Bruce is still failing. Obviously if you completely misunderstand the character’s motivations you’ll find issues that don’t exist.

People just don’t want stories to be about what they are about, huh.

#kelseethe #the dealers Jason killed met their fate because they either disobeyed him or were in his way. not because they sold drugs lol wtf #which that is obviously not a ‘😇’ thing but again who tf cares #it’s not like they were relief workers they were drug dealers. also this is a fictional story #anyway I think Jason typically not striking drug dealers and thieves in utrh demonstrates more forethought #than repeatedly throwing them in prison which will perpetuate the problem anyway #And doesn’t target the root either #Jason explicitly says he isn't trying to fix every single bad thing that can ever happen in the world. #because that isn’t feasible nor possible #no what he does is kill people who cause large amounts of immediate damage and that actually is a difference he can feasibly make #so why exactly would *Jason* being the one to forfeit his ideas be a demonstration of character growth #also #god forbid there be limitations to what Jason can do with the time and resources he has #And that he has his own plans and itinerary #because how dare he not properly fix every systemic/political issue in Russia Africa and the UK every other country he went to #nobody needs to ‘read theory’. I did that years ago in college this isn’t the same thing #And as for Gotham War … it feels like every new issue we win some we lose some #but also it’s funny that you’re saying ‘everyone pls listen to my rant & also ignore the recent comics that contradict what I’m saying’

[j-esbian]

(one of) the most frustrating parts about the portrayal of drow society is that it wants to create Reverse Sexism without uncoupling itself from some. pretty foundational patriarchal ideas. it ascribes to the (tired, essentialist) notion that men are inherently good at certain things, and women are inherently suited for different things

but rather than the basic subversion of “women are warriors and men are the homemakers” or even early feminist thought experiments like “traditionally ‘women’s priorities’ are given importance over ‘men’s’ (ie things are governed by council, importance is placed on childrearing, etc)”, menzoberranzan is “this society still holds to patriarchal values and women are not as good at these things which is why it’s demonstrably worse”.

the biggest tell is that they have to control the male population to maintain female dominance, the implication being that in a fair fight, men would easily overpower them. it assumes the misogynist ideas as fact that “women are inherently weaker” and also “women are duplicitous” so the drow fighting style is based on stealth and sabotage rather than “”honorable”” face- to-face combat (letting lie also the assumption that the only avenue for ambition is through military violence, and therefore still making it so that they are reliant on men, even as disposable shock troops, for their success).

the only things that keep women in charge are by stacking the numbers on a systematic level, and through sexual domination on the individual level (because clearly the only real power a woman can have over men is her sexuality).

it is a society where “men act like men” but women don’t act like women; it is evil because an act of god created an aberration against the “natural order” of things, and there is no one to tend the hearth (because if the women won’t do it, no one will)

#there’s just. so much to unpack #call me old fashioned but i think. if you’re trying to subvert something you should first understand how it actually works #now this is also mostly based off of what i read from the first couple drizzt novels and old lore on the wiki so like #it’s possible that they’ve tried to do a spit-polish retcon in 5e #but every time they’ve tried to do that with other things i feel like they also misunderstood the real issue so #either way i don’t have a lot of faith that this would have fundamentally changed #it’s probably just something like ‘yep we acknowledge it’s problematic but that’s bc lolth is eeeeevil so it’s supposed to be bad’ #like i’m gonna be honest. i roll my eyes whenever Any fantasy society spends time codifying gender roles in this kind of way #there’s plenty of other races that are like ‘men are warriors and women are homemakers but both are equally important so it’s not sexist!!! #like they’re not just reinventing the wheel of victorian Separate Spheres #but what gets me about this one is how clear it feels that no one thought deeply about it #‘a matriarchy is when women act like men’ #i have no source for this but it FEELS like it originated as a reactionary response to second wave feminism #‘women can do the same things men can do?? we should let them in positions of power?? #this is what that looks like. checkmate feminists’ #honestly i have learned a lot more about the way men think about women from fantasy bc #it rly shows their asses when you’re ostensibly removed from the world we live in #and the things they place importance on #mine #dnd